Hello out there to all my loyal readers and welcome to another edition of the Dog Pound. As you all know that this is a place where the fans voices can be heard, and again, I thank each and every one of you that have stuck by me as I continue to bring my thoughts to the worldwide web.
In this edition, I want to continue on what we talked about last time on what has changed in the WWE within the last 2-3 months. Now I’ll admit, I had planned to write this column a bit sooner after the last however I’m glad I held off. Why? It appears that some things have indeed changed within the landscape of the WWE and waiting to write this column now enables me to touch upon these things. And this time around, instead of bashing the WWE on the amount of ppv’s they have or how many gimmick ppv’s they’re putting on, I want to focus on the positive aspects they have accomplished as of late.
The new crop of rising stars. A sort of youth movement has begun within the WWE, and this is something that couldn’t come at a better time. Let’s face it, we all know the main event scene has been stale for some time. The combination of Orton/Cena/HHH/Michaels/Batista/Undertaker/Edge has been played out for many years now. For short periods of time a curve ball was thrown with the likes of RVD/Punk/Jeff Hardy. However, other than those three no true main event star has been established and had the ability to remain at the top of the card consistently.
Rob Van Dam left the WWE not long after getting a long over-due run with the WWE/ECW championships. Soon after he left, the title began jumping from Cena to Edge and back again for months. Looking at it now, it’s hard to imagine just how long RVD could stayed within the top-tier of stars if he had remained with the company. Do you think he would have remained at main event status, or shoved back down to upper-mid range?
Which brings me to the next star the WWE has tried to (and done so successfully) elevate, that being CM Punk. Having Punk win the MITB was a brilliant move; having him surprise Edge and win the World title was even better. Now, in my opinion, Punk has proven that he is indeed a main event player for the WWE. He is without a doubt one of the best heels in the business and his fued with Jeff Hardy was one of the best put together in quite awhile. However, my problem begins as soon as he dropped the title to the Undertaker. I feel he dropped the title too soon in my opinion. He had just wrapped his program with Hardy, only to drop it just as quickly to ‘Taker.
In addition to this, Punk is now in a fued with R-Truth. Nothing against R-Truth, but here is a guy who hasn’t really been pushed at all, now fueding with a three-time World Champ in Punk, who I don’t even remember if he got his rematch with ‘Taker or not. I can’t quite tell if this is the WWE pushing Punk down again to the upper-mid level, or bringing R-truth up. In the meantime however, what do we have now..ah that’s right Undertaker vs. Batista for the title. Familiar territory again.
Jeff Hardy was next on the list, and CM Punk did an amazing job working with Jeff and truly helping elevate Hardy to main event status. Sadly though, much like RVD, Jeff has leaft the company seemingly on top of his game. I have to question here too, if Hardy had stayed with the WWE, could he have remained on the top of the card with the likes of HHH and Undertaker? Or would he suffer what seems to be happening to Punk now?
On a positive note, it does seem as though the WWE recognizes that its main event stars are getting older, and the fueds are becoming increasingly more stale. How much longer we’ll have guys like ‘Taker, HHH, Michaels, and even Batista with the company no one can tell. In recent weeks, the WWE has done an amazing job building the next crop of faces to carry into the future.
I have said many times in the past that guys like John Morrison and even Dolph Ziggler are the future of the company, and future World champions (in my opinion). In addition, it appears that Kofi Kingston is on the brink of the biggest push of his career in a fued with Randy Orton. When I saw this program was developing I was pumped. Kingston has showed serious promise since his debut, and a lengthy fued with Orton may be just what is needed to push him to the next level.
Another guy that seems to be in line for a push is Drew McIntyre. A star “hand picked” by Mr. McMahon himself to be a future world champion. I like this storyline as it makes Drew someone who is relevent almost right away. I also like how they have him beating down guys like R-truth and Finlay before the matches even begin. It appears they are building him slowley, which us a good thing in the long run.
Of course, how can we not forget about Sheamus. Sheamus is the NEW number one contender for the WWE title at the TLC ppv. How many of you all saw this coming? I know I didn’t, and these days surprises in wrestling are hard to come by. Im not entirely sure I’m sold on Sheamus just yet but you know what, I say give us all another surprise and have him take the title from Cena. Really, what does the company stand to lose from it? After all, the Great Khali is indeed a former World Champion. John Cena is already a very established main event star, and doesn’t need to prove anything else. That said, a victory here would push Sheamus to the moon!
I’m truly glad to see that the WWE has begun to take steps in creating new stars. Keeping things fresh is what keeps things interesting. Inaddition to the names mentioned above, there is one other guy I’ve been a big supporter of…and his name is Paul Birchall. This guy has everything the WWE looks for in a main event star, he just hasn’t been given the opportunity to make the connection with the audience. Keep your eyes on him in the near future.
That does it for me this time peeps. Comments and feedback are always welcomed, please don’t be discouraged if replys aren’t immediate.
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